History AscendedExtra / WesternAnimation

* In ''Film/AceVentura: Pet Detective'', Spike appears in exactly one scene, in which he [[VisualPun apes]] Ace's movements. In the cartoon, he becomes Ace's full-on {{sidekick}}.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn was originally just a one-time moll character who made such an impression she became the Joker's pseudo-girlfriend/top henchwoman, then began developing relationships with other characters and got her own spotlight episodes, including a comic tie-in detailing her origins that got adapted into an episode. Then she became a CanonImmigrant into the comic universe and a BreakoutCharacter in general. So she's ascended twice from one-shot to supporting character, from cartoon to comics, in that order.
** ComicBook/{{Robin}} was featured infrequently in the first season, with the [[http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/backstage/wbible/ series bible]] even stating that he was not intended to be Batman's full-time partner like in the comics. Thanks to some ExecutiveMeddling, the show was renamed ''The Adventures of Batman and Robin'' in its second season, and Robin appeared in nearly every episode.
** ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} also appeared relatively infrequently throughout the original series, but was promoted to lead character status when the show was [[ReTool retooled]] as ''The New Batman Adventures''. Creator/BruceTimm claims her increased prominence was requested by network executives, who felt adding a woman to the main cast would win over [[AffirmativeActionGirl female viewers]].

* A stated goal of ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' is to utilize obscure Batman villains who haven't been as heavily exploited as his A-list rogues. This means unknown (to the general public) villains like Magpie, Anarky, and Professor Pyg are getting their moment in the limelight, with Ra's al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Killer Croc, and Deathstroke as the only remotely-recognizable villains who appeared in the show (Harvey Dent also appeared, but was unable to fully become Two-Face before it was cancelled). ComicBook/{{Katana}} also gets promoted to Batman's principal sidekick.

* ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperheroGirls2019'':
** Superman and Batman actually make a fair number of physical appearances here, when all they got in [[WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls the previous continuity]] was the former being occasionally mentioned as well as having his own statue at Super Hero High and the latter having a cameo as a plushy in the ''Finals Crisis'' tie-in graphic novel in addition to an indirect mention by his son Damian Wayne in the season five episode "Kid Napped".
** Lex Luthor appears as a recurring character, when his only appearance in the previous continuity aside from occasional mentions occurred in the ''Finals Crisis'' graphic novel tie-in.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** The show was singlehandedly responsible for making the John Stewart version of Comicbook/GreenLantern a star. Prior to this, not only was John ''not'' a regular member of the team in the comics[[note]]John was originally only a reserve Leaguer; Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner were all way more closely associated with the team[[/note]], but he hadn't even been a Green Lantern in ''years'', having lost his powers after ''Comicbook/EmeraldTwilight''. The cartoon proved so popular that John was repowered in the comics and finally became a full fledged member of the Justice League, and he hasn't looked back since. For an entire generation that grew up in the early 2000s, John ''is'' the Green Lantern. His status as [[SemperFi a retired Marine]] was also introduced by the cartoon version, with the comics subsequently adopting this while still keeping his career as an architect between his time in the two different Corps.
** The show is also often credited with raising the profiles of B and C-list heroes like Comicbook/TheQuestion.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'':
** Artemis is based on a D-list (or lower) character in the comics while she is part of a team of young superheroes like ComicBook/{{Robin}}, ComicBook/{{Superboy}} and [[Franchise/TheFlash Kid Flash]] for the show. Her [[spoiler:supervillain parents (Sportsmaster and Huntress) and sister (Cheshire)]] become more prominent because of this as well. Said sister isn't even related to her in the comics (where she's the most prominent of the lot), but thanks to the writers playing around with established Creator/DCComics lore, she gets an even larger role as one of the heroes' more prominent adversaries.
** The second season premiere, "Happy New Year," is a long parade of ascended extras: Bumblebee is one of M'gann's and Conner's friends from high school, Lagoon Boy had a single-line cameo when Kaldur visited his old class in "Downtime," Beast Boy was a character of the day in "Image," and Batgirl had a single-line cameo in "Home Front," plus silent cameos in "Failsafe" and "Misplaced." Mal Duncan actually ascended ''twice'': he's promoted from Conner and M'gann's background high school friend to the team's MissionControl, then from MissionControl to a BadassNormal hero as the next incarnation of Guardian.
*** In Beast Boy's case, he started from a character of the day in Season 1, became a supporting character in season 2 as a member of the Team, made recurring appearances and a DayInTheLimeLight in the first half of season 3, and finally becomes one of the major characters in the second half.
** The third season, ''Outsiders'', has ComicBook/BlackLightning. He debuted in the second season, but only appeared in five episodes, and only spoke in his final appearance with maybe a line or two. This season, however, Black Lightning is part of the main cast as a member of a splinter Team formed by Nightwing which resembles the Outsiders team he was originally a member of in the comics.
** Arrowette appeared as a little girl in the first season, and [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Spoiler]] appeared as a teen trafficked by the Reach in season 2. Both make appearances as members of the Team in season 3, though they don't appear much in the overall narrative. Likewise, El Dorado was one of the trafficked teens to become one of the Runaways, but manages to join the new Outsiders team in season 3.
** Season 4 features a few background characters from season 3 as new members of the Outsiders, these being ComicBook/{{Stargirl}}, who initially appeared as a newsgirl for Goode World Studios, Windfall, who made a few appearances at the Metahuman Youth Center and had one of them focus on her PowerIncontinence, Looker, who appeared as a BrainwashedAndCrazy trafficked teenager who helped Lady Shiva until the Team freed her, and Livewire, who was similarly forced to attack the heroes and sent to the Metahuman Youth Center to reform.

* Portnoy and Sasha Smithiwicks in "WesternAnimation/Camp Lakebottom",

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': [[EntitledBastard Billy Parham]], [[RichBitch Felicity Parham]], [[NiceGuy Louie Watterson]], [[GrumpyOldMan Marvin Finklehimer]], [[ButtMonkey Gary Hedges]], [[CringeComedy Hot Dog Guy]], [[TheBully Julius Oppenheimer Jr.]], [[StalkerWithACrush Sarah G. Lato]], [[BlueCollarWarlock Mrs. Jötunheim]], [[EvilOldFolks Margaret Robinson]], [[PoliceAreUseless Donut Cop]], [[HippieTeacher Mr. Moonchild Corneille]], Patrick Fitzgerald, [[ParentsAsPeople Joanna "Granny Jojo" Watterson]], [[CrazyCatLady Alison Sandra Gator]], [[RichBastard Harold Wilson]], and [[ThePessimist Clare Cooper]] all started out as minor characters, then became part of the supporting casts later on.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse:'' [[Characters/TheOwlHouseCamilaNoceda Camila Noceda]], Luz's mother, naturally has few appearances during the first two seasons due to being on Earth, and that number gets cut in half if you only include speaking ones. She goes on to become a constant presence in Season 3, after she becomes the primary caretaker of [[spoiler:the Hexsquad, both after they get stranded on Earth and when they successfully return to the Boiling Isles]], and her character and relationship with Luz is given ample focus.

* The "Two-Tone Town" episode of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' reintroduced a trio of obscure Merrie Melodies characters from the black-and-white 1930s shorts: Foxy and Roxy (obvious [[MockyMouse Mickey and Minnie Mouse ripoffs]]) and Goopy Geer (who would be an obvious Goofy ripoff if he didn't predate Goofy). They were modernized and given more distinct personalities for their ''Tiny Toons'' appearance; most viewers were probably unaware that they were actual characters from the black-and-white era and not just {{Retraux}} imitations like the subsequent [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} Warner siblings]].
** Also, Gogo Dodo and his residence of Wackyland are a large part of the show, to the point that Gogo appears in the opening theme. He is based on a character from a single 1938 Porky Pig short, not counting the color remake.

* Sir Pentious in ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'' was originally supposed to be a one off joke character that wouldn't appear again after the pilot. However, fans and the show's creator ended up liking him so much he became a member of the main cast.

* Muscle Man from ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' was a recurring character in the first season. Then in the second season, he was promoted to being a main character who started getting [[SpotlightStealingSquad more episodes that was focused on him]].

** Eileen definitely applies, as she goes from a minor character whose only real trait was having a crush on Rigby, to a supporting character around the show's fifth season, and finally a main character in the show's eighth and final season.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse:'' [[Characters/TheOwlHouseCamilaNoceda Camila Noceda]], Luz's mother, only appears in two episodes in the first two seasons (three if you include [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E16EnchantingGromFright Grom turning into her]]), and basically has no character development. Season 3 places her on the center stage as she becomes the primary caretaker of [[spoiler:the Hexsquad after they get stranded on Earth]], and her character and relationship with Luz is given a ''lot'' of focus. In "For the Future", [[spoiler:she even becomes a full-fledged SixthRanger to Luz and her friends.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': [[EntitledBastarf Billy Parham]], [[RichBitch Felicity Parham]], [[NiceGuy Louie Watterson]], [[GrumpyOldMan Marvin Finklehimer]], [[ButtMonkey Gary Hedges]], [[CringeComedy Hot Dog Guy]], [[TheBully Julius Oppenheimer Jr.]], [[StalkerWithACrush Sarah G. Lato]], [[BlueCollarWarlock Mrs. Jötunheim]], [[EvilOldFolks Margaret Robinson]], [[PoliceAreUseless Donut Cop]], [[HippieTeacher Mr. Moonchild Corneille]], Patrick Fitzgerald, [[ParentsAsPeople Joanna "Granny Jojo" Watterson]], [[CrazyCatLady Alison Sandra Gator]], [[RichBastard Harold Wilson]], and [[ThePessimist Clare Cooper]] all started out as minor characters, then became part of the supporting casts later on.

* ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperheroGirls2019'' actually has Superman and Batman make a fair number of physical appearances, when all they got in [[WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls the previous continuity]] was the former being occasionally mentioned as well as having his own statue at Super Hero High and the latter having a cameo as a plushy in the ''Finals Crisis'' tie-in graphic novel in addition to an indirect mention by his son Damian Wayne in the season five episode "Kid Napped".

* 21 and 24 from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' were minor characters early on in the first season, but became a bit more important as the season went on, and then starting with Season 2 they were part of the main cast. Same could probably be said of the Monarch who went from a recurring character to getting equal screen time to the Venture family.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' has two examples:

** Comic Book Guy first appeared in the late-Season 2 episode "Three Men and a Comic Book," as a one off character. He didn't appear again for several seasons before starting to becoming more prominent.

** Cletus showed up in one episode of season 5 ("Bart Gets an Elephant") an an unnamed extra, just a hick designed to laugh at Lisa for one line. He's then absent for a season before appearing a few times a season. Cletus and his family even have a few spotlight episodes, such as "Yokel Chords", "Pretty Whittle Liar", and "Yokel Hero".

** Scott Malkinson, whose only major role was in Season 12's "Elementary School Musical" and was used almost exclusively as a background character from that point onwards, got many prominent roles in Seasons 17, 18, and 23, with season 23 in particular having him show up much more often [[ADayInTheLimelight and even giving him his own episode]]. He even gets a major role in the Vaccination Special, in which he is the leader of a group known as 'Lil' [=Qties=]'.

** Bubble Bass was an antagonist in a very early episode ("Pickles"). After this, his further appearances in Season 1 largely amounted to [[DemotedToExtra occasional cameos]]. He then went completely absent before making an unexpected return in the Season 8 episode "Plankton's Good Eye". He then went absent again until Season 9, and from then on became a recurring character, usually playing the [[{{Jerkass}} same]] [[SmugSnake role]] he had in "Pickles". He's even had a few spotlight episodes throughout seasons 11-13: "Moving Bubble Bass", "Swamp Mates", "Bubble Bass's Tab", and "The Big Bad Bubble Bass".

** Peruíbe was created as just another of many filler child characters in the school. Later in the first season, he became part of the EnsembleCast, got an established voice, personality and catchphrases, and got his own talk show to fill time in shorter episodes. By Seasons 5 and 6, he could be considered the protagonist or deuteragonist, as he appears in '''all episodes''', has a major role in most of them, and has lines in all but one. Even the TitleCharacter Fudêncio, and the deuteragonist Conrado (who had both appeared in every episode from Seasons 1-4, and were the centers of the show) were absent or had no lines in multiple episodes.

** Applejack's brother Big Macintosh was a fairly minor character who rarely spoke more than a simple [[CatchPhrase "Eeyup!" or "Nnnope!"]] and appeared in only a handful of episodes in Season 1, usually as just a cameo whenever Applejack was involved. Once the second season came around, he was given more to do ([[TheQuietOne although he still rarely spoke]]). By the fifth season, a number episodes had been written with him as the central character.

* Hotstreak only appeared in several issues of the original ''ComicBook/{{Static}}'' comics, and was defeated pretty easily due to his WeaksauceWeakness. ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' removed said weakness and gave him a much larger role, effectively making him Static's ArchEnemy.
** Several minor one-off villains from the comics like Rubberband Man and Puff also had much larger roles in the cartoon than they ever did in the source material.

* In ''Film/AceVenturaPetDetective'', Spike appears in exactly one scene, where he [[VisualPun apes]] Ace's movements. In [[WesternAnimation/AceVenturaTheAnimatedSeries the cartoon]], he became Ace's full-on {{sidekick}}.
* Cousin Itt is a frequently recurring character in the 1992 ''[[WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily1992 Addams Family]]'' cartoon when he only appeared on a few occasions in the original live-action show.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': [[EntitledBastarf Billy Parham]], [[RichBitch Felicity Parham]], [[NiceGuy Louie Watterson]], [[GrumpyOldMan Marvin Finklehimer]], [[ButtMonkey Gary Hedges]], [[CringeComedy Hot Dog Guy]], [[TheBully Julius Oppenheimer Jr.]], [[StalkerWithACrush Sarah G. Lato]], [[BlueCollarWarlock Mrs. Jötunheim]], [[EvilOldFolks Margaret Robinson]], [[PoliceAreUseless Donut Cop]], [[HippieTeacher Mr. Moonchild Corneille]], [[OverprotectiveDad Patrick Fitzgerald]], [[ParentsAsPeople Joanna "Granny Jojo" Watterson]], [[CrazyCatLady Alison Sandra Gator]], [[RichBastard Harold Wilson]], and [[ThePessimist Clare Cooper]] all started out as minor characters, then became part of the supporting casts later on.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': [[BadassTeacher Principal Lewis]] was in the eighth season, and [[{{Jerkass}}Klaus]] gets a lot more importance starting at about the twelfth season. [[TheStoner Jeff]] becomes part of the main cast later on as well. Characters who appear more often now than in earlier episodes are [[NiceGuy Tuttle]], [[RecurringExtra Parker]], [[{{Gonk}} Mayor Woodside]] (although he died in “Railroaded"), [[TheBully Mertz]], [[JewishMother Esther Lonstein]], [[TheGenericGuy Hooper]], [[TheIntern McGee/Stiles]], [[GymBunny Coach Trey]], and [[EvilMentor Memphis Stormfront]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Billy Parham, [[RichBitch Felicity Parham]], Louie Watterson, [[GrumpyOldMan Marvin Finklehimer]], Gary Hedges, [[CringeComedy Hot Dog Guy]], [[TheBully Julius Oppenheimer Jr.]], [[StalkerWithACrush Sarah G. Lato]], Mrs. Jötunheim, [[EvilOldFolks Margaret Robinson]], Donut Cop, Moonchild Corneille, Patrick Fitzgerald, Jojo Watterson, Alison Sandra Gator, Harold Wilson, and [[ThePessimist Clare Cooper]] all started out as minor characters, then became part of the supporting casts later on.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Principal Lewis was in the eighth season, and Klaus gets a lot more importance starting at about the twelfth season. Jeff becomes part of the main cast later on as well. Characters who appear more often now than in earlier episodes are Tuttle, Parker, Mayor Woodside (although he died in “Railroaded” which may not be canon), Mertz, Snot’s mom, Hooper, Stiles, Coach Trey, and Memphis Stormfront.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManSpiderVerse'': Jonathan Ohnn, a five second extra that got hit by a bagel in ''Into the Spider-Verse'', becomes the Spot, the BigBad in ''Across the Spider-Verse''.